Africa (AF)
Asia (AS)
Europe (EU)
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
Middle East (ME)
Transregional (TR)
United States (US)
HIST 400 - Thematic Seminar
Selected topics with thematic focus rather than a geographical focus. The thematic seminar underscores the importance of exploring the diversity and the connections of human experience across space and time, and it aims to support the field of focus pathway within the major.
Credits: 1.00 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Selected topics in East Asian history from 1350 to 2000. Offerings vary from cultural and intellectual history to diplomatic and military history. (AS)
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
HIST 462 - Seminar on Problems in African History (AF)
Selected topics in African history from the ancient times to the present. Possible topics include African kingdoms and civilizations, expansion of Europe and the conquest of Africa, African resistances to colonialism, decolonization, colonial legacy, socio-economic and political developments in post-independence Africa, ethnic relations and conflicts, modern and indigenous mechanisms of governance. Students become familiar with the major historiographical debates in the field and are expected to refer to them in their research project. (AF)
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: One African history course Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
HIST 475 - Seminar in African American History (US)
Selected problems in African American history, including the civil rights movement and African American intellectual history in the 20th and 21st centuries. (US)
HIST 476 - Seminar on Problems in the 19th-Century United States (US)
Selected topics in political, social, and cultural history. Possible topics include labor, rights, citizenship, race, religion, empire, gender, and/or sexuality. Students become familiar with the major historiographical debates in the field and are expected to refer to them in their independent research projects. (US)
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: One course in US history Major/Minor Restrictions: Only History Majors and Minors Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
HIST 479 - Seminar on Problems in the History of U.S. Foreign Policy (US)
Selected topics, explored through a combination of assigned readings and research in primary sources. Past seminars have included U.S.-East Asia relations in the 20th century, the origins of the Cold War, and the role of culture, race, and gender in U.S. foreign relations. (US)
or two courses in US History or international relations Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
HIST 482 - Seminar on Problems in British History since 1800 (EU)
Examines topics in the history of modern Britain and its empire (including pre-independent Ireland). Political, social, economic, diplomatic, and cultural approaches are included. (EU)
Credits: 1.00 When Offered: London Study Group
Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
HIST 484 - Seminar on Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History (EU)
Examines selected themes and topics in the cultural and intellectual history of Europe from the late 18th century to the present. (EU)
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: One course in modern European history Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
HIST 489 - Seminar on Problems in Military History (TR)
Focuses on the role of organized violence in history in the context of military-civil relations and change in military technology and methodology. The period covered is ancient to modern, European and non-Western. Each seminar concentrates on a particular era. (TR)
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
A seminar for candidates for honors and high honors in history. Students enroll in this seminar to complete or extend a paper already begun in another history course. (TR)
Credits: 1.00 When Offered: Spring semester only
Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: Only History Majors Class Restriction: Only Senior Restrictions: Limited to seniors with a history GPA of 3.50 of higher Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
The ITAL 121, 122 sequence is an introduction to the Italian language that provides a foundation in both spoken and written Italian. ITAL 121 introduces students to the basic structures of the language in a highly interactive way: it emphasizes the mastery of grammatical structures and vocabulary with a strong emphasis on obtaining both communicative and cultural competency. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
ITAL 122 is a continuation of ITAL 121 designed to increase students’ proficiency in the four skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing Italian by enhancing their mastery of more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary. Students continue to work with conversation partners, but will also incorporate more specific cultural references in oral presentations and in written assignments. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Recommended: Students with a grade of C– or below in ITAL 122 are urged to repeat the course before continuing. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
ITAL 195 - Elementary-Level Italian Language Abroad
Elementary-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Designed to improve student’s ability to understand, speak, read, and write Italian and to expand students’ knowledge of Italian culture. It includes review of basic Italian grammar and introduction to new grammar structures, conversational practice, short compositions, cultural and literary readings, and films. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: Two or three years of high school Italian, or
, or the equivalent Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Recommended: Students with previous high school Italian should consult with instructor for proper language placement Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
ITAL 202 - Intermediate Italian: Language and Literature
Designed to build proficiency in all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and to improve knowledge of Italian culture. Besides reviewing and improving students’ grammar and vocabulary competency, this course will focus on the reading of short works of Italian literature, short compositions, and class discussions. Students will engage with a wide variety of literary and nonliterary materials, such as books, newspapers, magazines, and videos. Language Placement Guidelines
Students with more than four years of high school Italian should consult the instructor regarding placement. Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
An introduction to major works of Italian cinema from the silent era to contemporary productions. Students will watch and discuss groundbreaking films by Italian directors such as Rossellini, Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, Wertmüller, Benigni, and others. Places Italian cinema within the context of European art cinema and film theory, and focuses on the ways these films represent and challenge Italian history, culture, and identity. It emphasizes the study of cinematic analysis and filmmaking techniques, as well as the historical and cultural situation in Italy from the 1920s to the present. Students are required to attend weekly screenings in addition to regular class meetings. Taught in English, with the option of a discussion group in Italian.
Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: ITAL 223
Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None Formerly: ITAL 223L
Enduring for more than a thousand years, the Venetian Republic was one of the longest-lasting political entities in Europe. During its prime, it was the dominant naval and economic power in the eastern Mediterranean, and the major conduit for goods and ideas between the Muslim world and Western Christendom. This course traces the rise and fall of this remarkable maritime empire, its relation to the rest of Italy, and its lasting cultural contributions.
Credits: 1.00 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
ITAL 295 - Intermediate-Level Italian Language Abroad
Intermediate-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
ITAL 353 - Introduction to the Study of Italian Literature: Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature
Offers a close reading of the most representative works of outstanding Italian writers from the early 1900s to the present. Focuses on questions of aesthetics, national identity, politics, gender, and race as well as on the special relationship between texts and society. Students discuss both canonical works of Italian literature from the Risorgimento (1860) to the present as well as migration literature (from and to Italy), which continually questions the parameters of national identity. Language Placement Guidelines
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: At least four years of high school Italian or
Critically introduces students to the very diverse facets of modern and contemporary Italian culture. Students engage with a wide variety of literary and nonliterary texts, such as books, newspapers, music, theatrical works, films, etc. Aims at investigating the concept of Italian identity in its relationship to issues of class, gender, race, and ethnicity. Students enhance their linguistic skills through reading materials, the writing of compositions, listening activities and oral productions. Language Placement Guidelines
or at least four years of high school Italian Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
ITAL 360 - From the Page to the Screen (and Vice-Versa)
Examines the relationship between literature and cinema by focusing on a critical analysis of both written and film texts through a wide variety of genre and styles. Students consider classic and contemporary theories of literary criticism, film analysis, and film adaptations to address some of the course central questions and raise new ones. How does the medium affect our perception of a story? What can a film add to (or detract from) our reading experience? How does our reading experience affect our watching experience? And what happens when the book is actually written after a film?
or 4 years of high school Italian Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements Formerly: ITAL 301
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Advanced-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Introduces the four basic skills of speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing. Emphasis is on thorough mastery of the basic structures of Japanese through intensive aural-oral practice and extensive use of audiovisual materials. The two kana syllabaries and about 60 kanji (characters) are introduced toward the goals of developing reading skills and reinforcing grammar and vocabulary acquisition.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
. Emphasis is on thorough mastery of the basic structures of Japanese through intensive aural-oral practice and extensive use of audiovisual materials. By the end of this course, students will be able to read and write in Japanese with about a total of 150 kanji characters.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 121 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JAPN 195 - Elementary-Level Japanese Language Abroad
Elementary-level language course taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
The first semester of intermediate-level study of Japanese, this course completes the presentation of basic structures of the language. There is continued emphasis on oral communication, with practice in reading simple texts and acquisition of an additional 500 Chinese characters by the end of the term.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 122 or JAPN 124 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
The second semester of intermediate-level study of Japanese, this course completes the presentation of basic structures of the language. There is continued emphasis on oral communication, with practice in reading simple texts and acquisition of an additional 500 Chinese characters by the end of the term.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 201 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Introduces representative modern and pre-modern works of Japanese literature in English translation, as well as modern works of Japanese film.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite:JAPN 222L Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Credits: 0.00 Corequisite:JAPN 222 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines how media are rooted in popular cultures and popular cultures in media. Students will draw on media theories from Japan and elsewhere, critically evaluating those theories and applying them to a range of primary materials, including Japanese graphic narrative, literature, animation, film, song, and music as a way to think about the ideologies that affect how popular cultures and media interact. Students will articulate their own positions about the contexts that inform the creation, circulation, and consumption of representations in and of Japan. This course is taught in English.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JAPN 240 - Gender and Sexuality in Japanese Culture
Explores how gender identities and sexualities have been constructed and contested in Japanese culture, as expressed through novels, poetry, manga, films, television, music, video games, and the visual arts. Students first examine Japan’s diverse premodern philosophical, religious, and political conditions of cultural production and reception. Focus then shifts to how gender and sexuality have intersected with race, ethnicity, class, ability, and age in the past 150 years. Specific themes will include evolving gender roles in a rapidly industrializing empire; the changing stakes of coming out in different times and different media; and selling transgender hero(in)es to straight, cisgender audiences. All materials will be in English.
Credits: 1.0 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
This is an intensive course designed to facilitate student participation in a variety of study group contexts, including individual study and research. Emphasis is on oral comprehension, honorifics, social contexts, and reading and writing skills.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
“The way of tea,” chanoyu or chado/sado , was established by Sen no Rikyu in the 16th century in Japan, with “harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility” (wa kei sei jaku) as its principles. Chanoyu is the most direct practice of Zen Buddhism tradition, and many samurai warriors practiced it as part of the martial arts education. Students learn to realize the principles of chanoyu in a concrete and ritualistic way of making and receiving a bowl of maccha whisked tea. Assigned readings, along with hands-on practice, help students learn the Japanese tradition, art, aesthetics, calligraphy, literature, history, philosophy, and architecture. At the end of the course, students create and perform a tea ceremony in small groups, write a final paper that reflects on their performance and relates their experience to their modern lives as well as to their own cultural backgrounds. Students learn how the apparent universal concepts such as purity, tranquility, and mindfulness are attained through different sets of human behavior, and examine the human diversity and global interconnections reflected in cultural and artistic expression over time and space. The course is taught in English. Students will consume maccha tea and Japanese confectionery.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Increasing emphasis on written Japanese, with acquisition by the end of the term of an additional 140 kanji (characters).
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Increasing emphasis on written Japanese, with guided practice in reading unedited modern texts.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 301 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Intensive course designed to facilitate student participation in a variety of study group contexts, including individual study and research. Emphasis is on oral comprehension, honorifics, social contexts, and reading and writing skills.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Advanced-level language course taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Focuses on reading in literary and non-literary modern texts and mastery of the remaining Chinese characters on the jōyō kanji list of 1,945 characters.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 302 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Focuses on reading in literary and non-literary modern texts and mastery of the remaining Chinese characters on the jōyō kanji list of 1,945 characters.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 302 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Explores linguistic issues often encountered when learning Japanese as a second language. Topics include dialectical variations and their geographic and linguistic significance in Japan, variations in the use of Japanese by different generations, foreign accent, and factors affecting success or failure for learning Japanese as a second language. Includes lectures, discussions, and hands-on exercises such as acoustic analysis of Japanese spoken by native and non-native speakers. Texts and class discussion are mostly in English but knowledge of modern standard Japanese for everyday use is assumed. Also designed for students to develop ideas for senior research projects.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 202 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Focuses on readings from different fields such as anthropology, history, linguistics, and literature, depending on student interest. Class discussions are conducted entirely in Japanese.
Credits: 1.00 When Offered: When there is sufficient demand
Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 402 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Intensive course designed to facilitate student participation in a variety of study group contexts, including individual study and research. Emphasis is on oral comprehension, honorifics, social contexts, and reading and writing skills.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Focuses on a systematic study of advanced grammar necessary for oral and written communication in Japanese at the native speaker level. At this level of advanced study, possibilities of one-on-one correspondences between Japanese and English are few, and simply consulting dictionaries could easily result in insufficient or misleading information. Grammar structures that appear beyond JAPN 402 are covered and extended so that students understand systematic and comprehensive usages. Students concentrate on these kinds of advanced grammar patterns through textbooks and authentic reading materials, and learn to use them actively, accurately, and systematically in context. In addition, the study of kanji characters and vocabulary accompanies the study of grammar in order to reach the native-level fluency.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:JAPN 302 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JAPN 481 - Topics in Japanese Culture (Study Group)
Offered in a field of the study group director’s expertise. Takes advantage of museums, libraries, and historical sites in and around Kyoto, as well as guest lectures by Japanese and Western experts, to enrich classroom instruction
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JAPN 482 - Cultural Studies: The Japanese Village (Study Group)
This study group course examines the foundations of Japanese social interaction through a series of readings, guest lectures, and discussions, followed by several weeks of intensive study and documentation of life in one or more village settings.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Students pursuing honors research enroll in this course.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Introduction to the rich tapestry of cultures and peoples who live in contemporary Israel. Looking at the experiences of immigrant communities-Jews from Poland, Morocco, India, Russia, Ethiopia, etc., this course will discuss ethnicity, acculturation, and mobility in Israel. A consideration of film, literature, and scholarly accounts from a range of disciplines will allow students to explore both those who are at the center and at the periphery of Israeli society.
Credits: 1.00 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Senior Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JWST 181E - The Many Faces of Israel (Extended Study)
A continuation of the on-campus course JWST 181, The Many Faces of Israel. Students travel to Israel and experience first-hand the diversity of religions, cultures, and ethnicities in modern Israel and meet with experts on its economy and society.
Covers representative works of fiction by Italian, French, English, Russian, Hungarian, American, Canadian, and Israeli Jewish writers. Not all nationalities are covered in the syllabus for any given year. Discussion centers on a close analysis of the novels, comparing individual and national responses to the Jewish 20th-century experience. By including fiction written across Europe, North America, and Israel, while limiting the time frame to the years following World War II, the question of whether there exists one or more approaches to fiction that are characteristically Jewish is addressed. All readings are in English translation.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
The Bible is not only the best-selling book in America, but is arguably the book that has most profoundly shaped the United States. This course is an introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in its American contexts, particularly American public life. In reading the Hebrew Bible, students ask themselves how these scriptures have shaped American politics, culture, history, and literature. Who has used the Bible and how? To whom does the Bible now speak, and what does it say? In what sense is the Bible understood to be an American text? This course presumes no knowledge of the Christian or Jewish Bibles.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:RELG 208 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
What role does literary art play in the shaping of biblical narrative? How does the construction of the sacred text reflect its theological meaning? The religious vision of the Bible is given depth and subtlety precisely by being conveyed literarily; thus, the primary concern in this course is with the literature and literary influence of the received text of the Bible rather than with the history of the text’s creation. As students read through the canon they establish the boundaries of the texts studied, distinguish the type(s) of literature found in them, examine their prose and poetic qualities, and identify their surface structures. Students also consider the literary legacy of the Bible and the many ways that subsequent writers have revisited its stories.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:RELG 213 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Comparative scriptural analysis or what is now called “Scriptural Reasoning.” The focus will be on close readings of the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Qur’an with an eye to common themes and differences. Students will engage in a comparison of interpretive traditions in Judaism, Christianity and Islam to see how particular scriptural passages are understood in the religious traditions. The course will also spend time studying the ways in which scriptural reasoning has been used as a form of religious conflict resolution and peace-building in situations of conflict in the UK and Middle East.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:RELG 222 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines the enduring problem of antisemitism in its religious and racial manifestations. Students consider scriptural texts as well as memoirs, fiction, visual art, and diatribes from numerous cultures (material from the 19th Century onwards is primarily from Europe, Russia/USSR, and the United States).
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements Formerly: JWST/RELG 344
JWST 250 - Jewish Identity in the Modern World: Stories, Documents, Lives
Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Jews moved from a world bound by religious observance to a revolutionary re-imagining of their identities. Some of these revolutionary new belief systems (Marxism, Zionism, Freudianism) were as powerful and demanding as the religion their proponents had abandoned. Some of them had lasting and, in the case of Bolshevism, still controversial effects on modem history. Students will examine Jewish patterns of behavior in the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings include Sholem Aleichem, Kafka, Babel, and Oz, in addition to a variety of historical sources.
Credits: 1.00 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
The death of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis in the Second World War represents a radical challenge to faith in Judaism, in Christianity, and in humanism. Study begins with a historical overview of the Holocaust and uses accounts of Holocaust survivors to articulate the challenge of the Holocaust to faith. Then students review philosophical and theological responses to this challenge by a variety of Jewish, Christian, and secular authors.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:RELG 251 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JWST 260 - Rabbis Reinventing: The Making of Judaism as We Know It
Students are introduced to Rabbinic Judaism as it unfolded over centuries and came to be accepted as normative. Students explore ways in which Rabbis worked to create a dynamic religious system, which could portray itself as a continuing tradition while regularly absorbing new ideas and influences. Historical and literary approaches to the course material provide necessary context for developments in Judaism between the second and early twentieth centuries C.E. while exposing students to texts that both shaped those developments and were defined by them.
Credits: 1.0 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Judaism is a dynamic religious tradition that has developed many forms during a more than 3000-year history that has spanned nearly the entire globe. Students in this course consider how Jewish communities from the biblical period to the present day have shaped their practices and beliefs within their own specific historical circumstances. Students read primary sources such as the Bible, the Talmud, the Zohar, midrashim, prayers, response literature, and philosophical and theological discussions. In an effort to understand the ways in which Jews have lived their lives religiously, students explore how Jewish self-identity, textual traditions, and religious practices combine to define “Judaism.”
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:RELG 283 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
JWST 329 - The Politics of Nationalism and Memory in Eastern Europe (Extended Study)
How is history used to advance state-building and nation-building projects? What role do forgetting and memory play in politics? How do international forces interact with domestic political movements? This extended study course uses Vilnius, the current capital of Lithuania, as a case for studying the politics of nationalism and memory, which so shaped its history and which continue to inform its politics and culture today.
Credits: 1 Crosslisted: POSC 329 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
A course on European and American Jewish thought, covering a spectrum of liberal and traditional figures. The course studies the ways in which Jewish thinkers have responded to the challenges of modern philosophy, religious pluralism, and feminism. Modern reformulations of traditional Jewish ideas and religious practices are discussed as well as contemporary theological exchanges between Jews and Christians. Readings are taken from such figures as Mendelssohn, Buber, Rosenzweig, Heschel, Fackenheim, and Plaskow.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:RELG 339 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines life under tyranny – Soviet and Nazi – as distilled through the fiction of Russian/East European and Jewish writers who experienced it firsthand. An intertwining of political and private life from the inception of a new regime, with many people exuberantly hopeful, through the various stages of acquiescence, resistance, escape, and sometimes death. Readings include Timothy Snyder’s essay On Tyranny, stories, novels, and poems by Chekhov, Mayakovsky, Babel, Vasily Grossman, Kundera, and Nabokov.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted:REST 354 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
The first semester of an introductory study of the elements of the Latin language. A thorough and methodical approach to the basics is supplemented, as students progress, by selected readings of works by ancient authors.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
The second semester of an introductory study of the elements of the Latin language. A thorough and methodical approach to the basics is supplemented, as students progress, by selected readings of works by ancient authors.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 121 Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Covers the material of Elementary Latin (121, 122) at an accelerated pace. Open to all students who would like to learn Latin efficiently and intensively; some background in Latin is helpful but not required.
Credits: 1.00 When Offered: Spring semester when there is sufficient demand
Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Restrictions: Not open to students who have completed LATN 121 or LATN 122. Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Elementary-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines the prose styles of Cicero and Sallust through readings of selections from both Cicero’s Orations and Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae. Close reading allows students to expand and develop their knowledge of Latin grammar and syntax as well as to learn the fundamentals of Latin prose style.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 122 or
Introduction to Latin poetry through close reading of selections from Vergil or other poets. Students gain a wider appreciation of the technical and literary aspects of Latin poetry through their acquaintance with Rome’s great epic poet.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 122 or
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
LATN 295 - Intermediate-Level Latin Language Abroad
Intermediate-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Selections from Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita are closely read and analyzed. Particular attention is paid to Livy’s historiographical method as well as to the Roman republican period that is the subject of the bulk of his work. Selections from other Roman historians may be examined for comparison.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 201 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Examines the role and development of public speaking in the Roman republic. Readings in Latin include early rhetorical fragments (from Cato the Elder and others) and one major oration of Cicero. Several Ciceronian speeches are also read in English translation. Equal amounts of attention are given to analysis of style, scrutiny of argument, and study of historical context.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 201 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Selections from Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, and Catullus are subjected to close reading and analysis. Particular attention is paid to the development and tradition of the genre of Roman elegy. The Roman elegists oppose their own poetical technique and thematic direction to that of the writers of more “serious” poetry. Students explore this dichotomy.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 201 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Close reading and analysis of one of the most influential of ancient works, the Metamorphoses. Ovid’s epic poem encompasses all of Graeco-Roman myth, poetry, and history. Students have the opportunity to master Ovid’s classic Latin style and to explore his influences and those he influenced.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 201 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
A reading of the surviving fragments of the Satyricon of Petronius. The Cena Trimalchionis is read in its entirety. This work, considered perhaps the first novel in literary history, offers an unusual glimpse into the decadent world of southern Italy in the late 1st century A.D. Particular attention is paid to the variety of the writer’s Latin style that reflects language used by different social classes in this period.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 202 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Advanced-level language courses taken abroad with a Colgate study group, an approved program, or in a foreign institution of higher learning.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: None
Close reading and analysis of selections from the Annals of Tacitus and other works. Particular attention is paid to the historiographical method of Tacitus as well as to the Roman imperial period that is the subject of the bulk of his work. Selections from other Roman historians may be examined for comparison.
Close reading and analysis of selections from Horace’s Odes. Students will study all aspects of the poems, including the poet’s accomplishments in metrics and poetics, his thematic concerns, and the relationship between poem and poetic book.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 321 or LATN 340 or LATN 350 or LATN 360 or LATN 370 or LATN 380 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Close reading and analysis of selections from Vergil’s two earlier works, the genres to which they belong (bucolic and didactic), and their relationship to his Aeneid. Students focus on questions of genre, the relationship between the poet and his Greek and Roman predecessors, and the thematic and poetic development of the author.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 321 or LATN 340 or LATN 350 or LATN 360 or LATN 370 or LATN 380 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Close reading of selected satires written by Lucilius, Horace, Persius, and Juvenal. The course examines the origins of satire (the only genre native to Rome and largely free of Greek influence), the function of satire in Roman society, and the influence of satire on later European literature and thought.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites:LATN 321 or LATN 340 or LATN 350 or LATN 360 or LATN 370 or LATN 380 or higher Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Opportunity for individual study in areas not covered by formal course offerings, under the guidance of a member of the faculty.
Credits: variable Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: None
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies
LGBT 220 - Lives, Communities, and Modes of Critical Inquiry: An Exploration into LGBTQ Studies
The course explores the lives, experiences, and representations of LGBTQ persons, those who identify or are identified as transgressive in terms of their sexuality and/or gender expression. Particular emphases may vary, but topics typically explore LGBTQ communities and families, cultures, and subcultures; histories, institutions, and literatures; and/or economic and political lives. Selected topics serve to expose complex cultural forces that continue to shape sexuality and regulate its various expressions. The course promotes the examination of new theories and methodologies in relation to established disciplines as it underscores the generation of new knowledge within traditional fields of scholarship. By examining sexualities, students gain an understanding of and respect for other differences in human lives such as age, ability, class, ethnicity, gender, race, and religion.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents Liberal Arts CORE: None
Interrogates the intersection of sexuality and gender in Latin American and Iberian literature and film. Beginning with representations of Don Juan in 16th- through 19th-century Spain, students see how during that period of imperial expansion a particular brand of masculinity spread throughout the new world. The second part of the course focuses on writings and films from artists whose works draw on and question myths of Hispanic masculinity by looking at non-white, female, and queer versions of the Don Juan archetype in Latin America. Lastly, students examine how the figure of the Latin Lover has been appropriated and critiqued by writers and directors in non-Hispanic contexts. These are analyzed together with critical works on masculinity, gender theory, and cultural studies.
Credits: 1.00 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No Senior Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
LGBTQ youth have traditionally been marginalized in schools. K-12 education offers few curricular and institutional spaces where queer identities are affirmed and queer voices are heard. From sex education to the prom, most schools and educators operate under the ahistorical guise of heteronormativity–a term used to describe ideologies and practices that organize and privilege opposite-sex gender relations and normative gender and sexual identities. Using critical lenses developed by queer and feminist theorists and critical pedagogues, this course seeks both to explore how heteronormativity operates in a variety of educational spaces and how students and educators are confronting these processes by using schools as sites of resistance.
LGBT 242 - Religions of Resistance: Gender, Sexuality and Performance in the Caribbean
Studies African-derived religions and practices in the Caribbean, particularly the ways in which they constitute anticolonial and decolonial perspectives and practices. By exploring texts drawn from cultural studies, religious studies, literature, theatre and anthropology, students will develop an analytical framework through which to examine concepts such as syncretism and hybridity, ritual and bodily performance, and the construction of gender and sexuality. Key concerns in this course are the empowerment of women and people of diverse gender and sexual identities in religious contexts, black identity in the Caribbean and beyond, and the creation of new spaces for marginalized voices to be heard.
Credits: 1.00 Crosslisted: ALST 242 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Queer identities are – and have long been – enmeshed within large-scale circuits of exchange engendered by the movement of people, ideologies, markets, and capital. This course considers transnational conceptualizations and circulations associated with gender or sexual nonconformity. In doing so, it emphasizes ways of interrogating queer citizenship that purposefully attend to dynamics exemplifying complex interactions on global and local scales. Rather than assuming a particular narrative, the course examines the way by which queer identities are variously constructed and contested.
Credits: 1.00 Corequisite: None Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: No First-year, Sophomore Area of Inquiry: None Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
Students will study LGBTQ-themed graphic novels, speculative fiction, and films from across the Caribbean and its US diasporic communities that draw on Afrofuturism as well as African-derived and indigenous traditions and visual cultures to imagine alternative pasts, decolonized futures, and solutions to environmental problems. Legacies of colonial violence, destructive weather events, and damaging policies have made it difficult to imagine a way forward, especially for those with non-hegemonic racial, gender, and sexual identities. Studied alongside political, sociological, and historical works, textual and performative artistic productions will be employed as contestatory discourses that center those who are most marginalized and imagine creative responses to the economic, environmental, and social issues the region and its diasporas face.
Credits: 1 Prerequisites: None Major/Minor Restrictions: None Class Restriction: None Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements
